Daily Word of Grace # 40 (May 11, 2020)
Living many years of my life in Virginia, I often visited the magnificent Shenandoah National Park. As a kid every time we would drive there the excitement of seeing the mountains emerge from the horizon the closer we came always moved me. On an even grander scale the same thing happens out west if you‘re driving westward across Eastern Colorado and see the immense Rocky Mountains emerge from the Great Plains, or if you’re driving westward across the desert of southwestern California and see the Sierra Nevada Mountains come into view. What is it about mountains that beckons us, fills us with hope, and calls to our hearts? The psalmist wrote about this: “I lift up my eyes to the hills—from where will my help come? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth” (Psalm 121:1-2) and “As the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the Lord surrounds his people, from this time on and forevermore” (Psalm 125:2). The immensity of the mountains, mountains which have been there eons before us and will be there eons after us, is a silent, constant reminder from the One who “made heaven and earth” and “surrounds his people” of God’s love for us and presence with us. On Good Friday Jesus, who “made heaven and earth” and whose grace surrounds us even now, died on a hill called Calvary—and his love and grace continue to beckon us, fill our hearts with hope, and call to our hearts. “I lift up my eyes to the hills—from where will my help come?” Jesus Christ.
Love and Prayers,
Dave